Moving slightly (but not too far) down the recruiting rankings to venture outside the cozy confines of the stars at Reebok’s Big Time tournament, we ventured over to Nike’s Main Event to check on the progress of 6-6 Texas recruit Gary Johnson, a consensus 25 recruit.

Johnson looks like a college stud in the making, absolutely destroying the highly touted front court of the King James Shooting Stars, featuring Kosta Koufos and Delvon Roe. Johnson is an undersized hoss in the mold of a PJ Tucker or Jeff Adrien, tenacious around the basket with a relentless motor and incredible work ethic. He has the best post moves of any big man we’ve seen here in Vegas, fantastic hands and a great touch around the hoop. He runs the floor extremely hard, has a terrific nose for the basket and is extremely quick to get off his feet and throw down a dunk. His pivots and spin moves got him to the free throw line countless times in this game, and he has the touch to convert there at a very good rate. As a rebounder he excels just as much due to his combination of quickness, hands, timing, tenacity and his 7-1 wingspan. He anticipates well and goes out of his area to collect rebounds on both the offensive and defense glass.

The negatives to his game would obviously be his well below average height at just 6-6 and the fact that he showed absolutely no perimeter game from what we’ve seen so far. He needs to work on his ball-handling skills and mid-range jumper and become a little better finishing around the hoop with his left hand. He looks like a solid four year player who will contribute from day one and therefore obviously a huge get for Texas. Off the court he appears to be just as mature as he is on it.